A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of electrical connectors, and particularly to modular connectors for very high frequency transmissions and methods of using the same.
B. Description of the Related Art
In the industry today standards organizations such as the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) publish performance specifications and equipment configurations for various aspects of electrical cabling, including the electrical connectors or interfaces used with the cabling. Presently there are specifications for six categories of modular jacks used with twisted-pair cabling: Category 3, Category 4, Category 5, Category 5E, Category 6, and Category 7. For Categories 3-6, an 8-position modular jack interface is specified. That is, a Category 3-6 compliant modular jack must have, among other things, 8 parallel terminal contacts that extend into a plug-receiving cavity and are spaced at specific intervals. A number of the parameters specified, such as the size of the terminal contacts and the distances between one another, derive in part from the frequency range of the signals to be passed through the jack and the need to suppress crosstalk among the terminal contacts. For instance, requirements for a Category 3 compliant jack are specified to an upper frequency limit of 16 MHz, to an upper frequency limit of 32 MHZ for a Category 4, to an upper frequency limit of 100 MHz for a Category 5 or 5E, and to an upper frequency limit of 250 MHz for a Category 6 compliant jack.
Presently the performance specifications and equipment configurations for a Category 7 jack are under development by the ISO/IEC, but the requirements are expected to be specified to an upper frequency limit of 600 MHz. Due to this large jump in the upper range of frequencies that a Category 7 jack will accommodate, crosstalk becomes a major concern. For this reason the standards bodies have chosen to abandon the 8-position modular jack interface specified for Categories 3-6 in favor of an 8-position modular jack interface where terminals 1-2, and 7-8 extend into the plug-receiving cavity of the jack from the top and terminals 4-6 extend into the plug-receiving cavity from the bottom. It is also expected however, that the standards bodies will mandate that each Category 7 jack is backwards compatible. That is, that each Category 7 jack must accept Category 2-6 plugs in addition to Category 7 plugs. Thus, there is a need for a way of making a Category 7 jack backwards compatible.
A modular jack connector, comprising a ground shield defining a receiving cavity open at a plug receiving face, a dielectric housing mounted inside the ground shield receiving cavity, the dielectric housing defining a plug receiving cavity open on a first face thereof and an insert receiving cavity open to the plug receiving cavity, a plurality of first terminal contacts mounted to the dielectric housing, each of the first terminal contacts having a spring beam and tail end portion wherein the spring beam portion extends within the plug receiving cavity, a plurality of second terminal contacts mounted to the dielectric housing, each second terminal contact having a spring beam and tail end portion wherein the spring beam portion extends within the plug receiving cavity and wherein certain of the tail end portions of the second in terminal contacts are electrically connected to certain of the tail end portions of the first terminal contacts, and a switching block positioned to slideably move within the insert receiving cavity, whereby insertion of a plug having a switching protrusion into the plug receiving cavity of the connector contacts and moves the switching block away from the plug receiving cavity breaking the electrical connections. Certain of the tail end portions of the second terminals may be electrically connected to the certain of the tail end portions of the first terminal contacts by a plurality of switching contacts. In this case, the electrical connections are broken by the switching block engaging the switching contacts.